Fourteen Washington, D.C., restaurateurs and chefs were shortlisted for a culinary award Jan 22.
The James Beard Foundation’s restaurant and chef awards, established in 1991, honor excellence in the culinary arts by recognizing chefs, restaurants, restaurateurs, bakers, authors, journalists and other food industry professionals. Finalists will be revealed April 2, and winners will be honored in a ceremony in Chicago, Ill., on June 16.
Amy Brandwein, the head chef and owner of Centrolina, an Italian restaurant in Penn Quarter, was nominated for outstanding chef, the seventh nomination in her career. Brandwein said she was humbled to be chosen again.
“I started my career and never even imagined I would get to these levels, so every time I’m just completely humbled,” Brandwein told The Hoya. “There are so many great chefs and restaurants in the city, and then to be able to stay on top this whole time, it’s just been just so exciting.”
Paolo Dungca, the owner and chef of Hiraya, a Filipino cafe in Near Northeast, said his nomination for best emerging chef came as an unexpected achievement.
“I’ve kind of given up on this nomination for quite some time,” Dungca told The Hoya. “It’s just something that I stopped paying attention to. But it was definitely an out-of-body experience to be nominated last week for sure. It kind of felt like a dream come true.”
Dungca said his goal is to educate people in the United States on Filipino food and culture.
“It’s just basically trying to educate Washington, D.C., on how rich and diverse our culture is,” Dungca said. “That’s always been our goal, to amplify or hopefully stay relevant within mainstream America on how beautiful our cuisine is, and also our culture, and I think that it gives us pride to represent our country in a way where we also educate others about it.”
Brandwein said childhood experiences in the kitchen inspired her to bring a sense of creativity to Centrolina by focusing on celebrating the Italian culinary tradition through incorporating fresh, seasonal ingredients.
“I was always cooking when I was little, so after school when I was very young, I would try to make recipes from ingredients that we had available in the house and see what I could make from the cookbook that didn’t require a trip to the store,” Brandwein said.
Chase Dobson (CAS ’27) — who runs Dobber, a food blog — visited three of the nominated restaurants, including Hiraya, and said the awards reflect the restaurants’ quality.
“I think any chef who manages to make good food consistently deserves some sort of five-month stay in the ICU to recuperate,” Dobson told The Hoya. “It’s very hard to turn out high-quality products consistently. But I do think all three of those restaurants were notably good, and that’s saying something because they lived up to the hype.”
Brandwein said the prospect of making an impact on other people through cooking serves as a source of pride in her work.
“It means a lot for me and for my restaurant,” Brandwein said. “And it also makes me feel proud that I’m having an impact and inspiring other people, that means a lot.”
Dungca said the award is not for just him or Washington, D.C., but also for the Filipinos he is representing and his family at home.
“The whole purpose of this award — I mean, yeah, my name is on the award — but it’s for the entire team, not just here in the United States but also the Filipinos back home, my family back home as well,” Dungca said. “This representation is for them. I’m not just representing Washington, D.C., in this category, but I feel like I’m also representing the people that we had back home.”
Dobson said it is important to remember that all chefs try to make food they think their audience will enjoy, regardless of awards.
“When you’re thinking about good food, you shouldn’t let fancy awards and people who have been to fancy restaurants monopolize the space, and everybody, regardless of whether they won an award for their food, is making something with love or at least something that they hope other people will love,” Dobson said.